Music Roulette 8 ~ What’s the Frequency, Spotify

I read somewhere that music is the closest thing we have to time travel. Listening to certain songs will take us back in time to specific developmental periods in our lives, like timestamps in our personal history. I completely agree. Certain songs mean certain things. And certain songs evoke specific emotions. Music is a powerful tool, certainly not the “blunt tool” that Hannibal Lecter accuses Clarice of using on him at their first meeting in The Silence of the Lambs. Time to dissect with another round of music roulette.

1. Summer :: Imagine Dragons

This song came out in 2015, I was commuting back and forth to college, the second time around. Both as an adult student, and part time employee at the Student Veteran Center on campus. I listened to this album a lot while navigating the terribly slow corridor south to school, trapped in traffic moving at 35mph down a cop heavy road. Interesting times. Glad I never got a ticket. But this song gives me strong Summer vibes, probably because it was never not summer in Texas. Hot 90% of the year, it’s as it says in the song “not for me”.

2. Stir It Up :: Bob Marley & The Wailers

I don’t care what anyone says, I hear Bob Marley and I’m immediately transported to the beach. My only wish was to have been on a beach in a hammock while hearing Bob Marley play on the breeze, and that wish was fulfilled back when I was in the Navy and we were in the Seychelles. So I guess that means I can die now?

3. My Favorite Mistake :: Sheryl Crowe

My Favorite Mistake is my favorite song to sing at Karaoke. I think it may have been the first song I attempted, and to this day, it remains my go-to song for any karaoke bar. She sings in my register, and this song is deeply personal, because mr horrible is My Favorite Mistake. And I knew it when I met him. I just didn’t realize that the red flags weren’t supposed to be Six Flags. Unfortunately, it meant I ended up singing this song a lot when I was married, and ever since. Live and Learn.

4. blackout blackout :: all things break

I’m almost 1000% certain I discovered this song on TikTok. Didn’t stop it from becoming the earworm that kept this song on heavy rotation for at least a month. Especially on my “drive” playlist as I made the road trip from Atlanta to Texas and back. It also reminds me of nights at Bar, dancing in the back room until the lights came on. IYKYK

5. Requiem, Op. 48: VII. Libera Me

It’s funny that this piece came up. I was just thinking of the Faure Requiem not too long ago, because I sang this when I was in the Concert Choir in high school. I still have my sheet music (I don’t know if I wasn’t supposed to keep it, but it was a private school, so who knows), and I still find it hard to believe that I sang this in front of people. Mostly because until 10th grade, I couldn’t read sheet music. But somehow I learned, and then we were learning this piece in my junior year to perform in concert. Who knew. It is beautiful and moving. Mostly, when people think of a Requiem, they think of Mozart, but this is the one for me.

6. Shooting the Moon :: OK Go

Several points about this song. First, I can’t ever hear this song and not think of Twilight: New Moon. If I heard it before that movie came out, I don’t remember. I hear the song, and it’s Bella and Jacob rebuilding the bike. Second, New Moon is and always will be my favorite Twilight movie. It was a combination of the music, the original Victoria (sorry, Bryce Dallas Howard, not doing it for me), and the running sequence in the woods. Classic. This whole soundtrack, in fact, was on a constant repeat play for me the year this movie came out, back in the day, before fast release to DVD or video on demand, I would have to wait ages for a movie to be available to download on Limewire 😉 IYKYK

7. Higher :: Just Blaze, Baauer, JAY-Z

This song takes me back to living in New Jersey. For some reason, despite being deep in the trenches of the divorce process and all that trauma, I listened to this song and beats of this ilk. I think I thought if I just listened to music loud enough, I wouldn’t have to think about my situation, which in Jan of 2013 was beyond less than ideal. It was abysmal. Interestingly enough, this song does not trigger me despite those dark times. Progress!

8. Key To My Heart :: BOVSKI

This song makes me think of the new neighbor friend of mine. The song itself is a recent discovery thanks to TikTok. BUT we were at a mall the other day, and we walked into an electronic store to buy a microphone for the council meeting. In the corner there was a speaker they had playing songs like this. And I was vibing, and dancing in the aisle while she went looking for the microphone and then called her son to ask him if their speaker at home would be compatible. As we were walking out of the store she said: “I can’t stand music like this” and then said something about the repetetive rhythm getting on her nerves. Girl… clearly you and I are two different breeds. Clubbing was part of my life and music I can feel in my bones? Well, that’s just part of the experience. Yeesh. What a disconnect.

9. Don’t Make Me Prove It :: Veruca Salt

Veruca Salt takes me back to college. No year in particular, just random parties in the dorm, and this girl who lived down the hall from me in the dorm who had somehow made her computer say her name when she turned it on. I still don’t know how she managed that, and it was probably really simple, but for a poor girl who went to college before laptops were commonplace, and I didn’t have my own computer since the Apple IIe we had was grossly obsolete by the time I graduated high school, it was magic as far as I was concerned. It was probably just a custom sound file in her theme. Look at me now. Not so magical anymore lol.

10. Mi Cumbia :: Ramon Ropain, His Piano And Band

And this is what I mean by eclectic. No one can claim I don’t like all kinds of music. This song takes me back to the Ballroom Dance class I took in college. It was challenging, and I wish I had kept up with it. Especially after I got divorced. Since the ex would not ever attempt to dance with me, and after I had the kids, wouldn’t have been caught out in public with me anyway. But I love to dance and wish I had an outlet for this unused and rusty skill set.